The politics of mourning in Cyprus and Israel: educational implications

This paper suggests the need for a critical analysis of the nationalization of mourning and its educational implications, especially in conflict‐ridden areas. Our thoughts are grounded in a comparative study on mourning that has been conducted as part of our long‐standing ethnographic research in schools in Cyprus and Israel during the last 10 years. Through this study on mourning, we highlight two ideas. First, we want to show how a comparison of our studies in Cyprus and Israel highlights the difficulties for alternative interpretations to be translated into educational policies and teacher practices in the absence of changes in political structures. Second, we want to show that despite the forces that nationalize mourning, there are educational openings for alternative interpretations about mourning and the encouragement of reconciliation pedagogies. To this end, the education literature on teaching controversial issues and examples of pedagogies for reconciliation might be relevant to provide concrete ideas for education theory, policy and practice on issues of mourning.     

Decentralization of higher education and its implications for educational autonomy in Taiwan

This article primarily aims to investigate the effects of decentralization on educational autonomy in Taiwan through historical and documentary analysis. To draw an analytical framework, it begins with a brief examination of the concept of autonomy. This is followed by an examination of how decentralization has influenced the state-institution-individual relationship in Taiwan's higher education by using a three-level hierarchical model. After analyzing decentralization as empowering practices, it argues that the emergence of a performativity culture has generated an antinomy of the decentralization reforms, in which decentralization has formed a new ecology of education administration in Taiwan on the one hand, and simultaneously has brought the issue of bureaucratization in education on the other.     

When Classrooms Matter: implications of between‐classroom variability for educational policy in Israel

This study assesses several policy implications of within‐school, between‐classroom variability in pupil achievement. It diverges from current school effect studies by directly modelling pupil achievement in the Jerusalem public primary school system. This three‐level study includes pupils, classrooms and schools, thus allowing an appropriate estimate of the variations between these three levels. The findings show that between‐classroom variability is consistently greater than the estimated variation between schools. These findings contrast with traditional school‐level analyses that usually ignore within‐school variability. In the light of these findings we address three educational and policy issues. First, we probe into the moral consequences of between‐classroom, within‐school variability, specifically focusing on issues of choice and commitment. Second, we scrutinize the administrative policy of ‘social integration’ and reflect on some educational consequences that result from our findings. Third, we assess the Israeli version of ‘school league tables’ and discuss their usefulness as a means of resource allocation     

Developing an overseas counsellor education program: Problems, issues, and educational implications

This article describes an example of an overseas counsellor education program. The problems, issues, and educational implications of the program are detailed.     

Out of the classroom,into the courts: The legalization of Australian education and its implications for educational research

This paper argues, on the basis of comparative research and a study of recent Federal and State statute law and court decisions, that Australian education is becoming legalized. That is, new rights in education are being elaborated. New procedural protections enforced. The rule of law is developing in Australian education, where custom law used to prevail. This, the writers suggest, calls for new items on the educational research agenda.     

Beyond high-stakes exam: A neo-Confucian educational programme and its contemporary implications

Abstract

This article seeks to clarify the purpose of high-stakes exam and its relationship with teaching and learning by elucidating the educational thought of the eminent neo-Confucian thinker Zhu Xi. The paper contends that Zhu Xi views standardised testing as an essential means to evaluate the learning outcomes, honour exemplary scholars and select suitable persons for official positions. But he rejects exam-centred teaching and learning that promote rote-memorisation and neglect self-cultivation and self-transformation. The paper further delineates Zhu Xi’s broad-based and integrated educational programme that is aimed at learning for the sake of one’s self through experiential learning, personal inquiry and mindful reading. The essay concludes by highlighting the contemporary implications of Zhu Xi’s ideas: they inform the ongoing debates on the usefulness and impacts of high-stakes exam by situating standardised testing within a larger educational agenda that is geared towards self-improvement and personal transformation.     

Cultural clash and educational diversity: Immigrant teachers' efforts to rescue the education of immigrant children in Israel

Thousands of immigrants who arrived from the former USSR during the past decade have drastically changed the Israeli educational system. However, constituting about 12% of the potential labour force of educators, immigrant teachers represent less than 5% of the actual teaching staff; 69% of immigrant students in the 17-year-old age cohort do not possess a matriculation certificate. This article presents the results of research that studied probably the most prominent effort to rescue the education of immigrant children, namely the Mofet system, which was founded by a group of immigrant teachers in 1991. Today's Mofet runs more than 20 supplementary evening schools around the country and five day-schools. The development of the Mofet group for the advancement of education is one of the most significant examples of the consolidation trends among the Russian-speaking intelligentsia in Israel. However, the authors argue that though Mofet's success is directly linked to the general education system's failure to meet immigrants' needs, it does not express Russian immigrants' desire for socio-cultural segregation.     

Ghosts of research past: institutional memory and its implications for educational research

Not all research projects progress according to plan. When a project culminates in a published piece that the research participants do not support, what are the effects and for how long do they endure? Using a retrospective case study, this article explores what memory can teach us about the long-term ramifications of research conducted in schools. Results suggest that for as long as 25 years after the publication of a controversial article, memory traces of the piece may survive at the research site, even if they have largely faded from view at the researchers' institution. The article argues that such memory stores expose much about institutional identities and practices, and that they contain important lessons for how we should approach, carry out, and conclude research in schools.     

小学教育之儿童文学教育意蕴探究

《儿童文学》作为小学教育专业的一门专业课,以其特殊的教育形式影响、规范儿童的行为与处事方式,对未来从事小学教师工作的学生有着极其重要的作用.在小学教育专业课堂教学中,教师应着重指导学生善于挖掘儿童文学作品中所蕴含的科普教育、情感教育、挫折教育以及生命教育意蕴,帮助学生逐步形成良好的儿童教育观,养成勤于动笔、积极创作具有教育意蕴的儿童文学作品的良好习惯,为未来从事小学语文教学工作奠基.     

实施创新教育的根本在于教育创新

创新教育以教育创新为其前提条件和实施保证，只有坚持真正意义上的方向明确的教育创新，创新教育才能得以真正落实。因而实施创新教育的根本在于教育创新。 一、创新教育本身就是一项教育创新 　　“创新”一词从字面上讲，“既包括事物发展的过程又包括事物发展的结果，包括新的发明发现、新的思想和理念、新的学说与技术以及一切新事物”。简单地说，创新是人类主体在处理和客体的关系中弃旧图新、破旧立新的独创性活动过程及结果。 　　教育创新是指关于教育的理论、思想、方法、目标、内容、体制和机制等的创新，其重点在教育思想和教…     

Exemplarity and education: Retuning educational research

This article explores the idea of exemplarity in relation to educational research and teacher education. Exemplarity is introduced as an alternative to the paradigm of evidence and ‘what works’, which seems to be omnipresent in educational research at present. The idea of exemplarity relates to the particularity of educational practice. The claim of this article is that we need to skew the dominance of functionalistic studies of education, which focus on skills and solutions to problems, or on providing quick fixes and methods to be applied in practice. I will argue that this tactic shuts down interpretive spaces and gives the teacher an illusion of simplicity and efficacy that connects poorly with the complexities of pedagogical practice. Exemplarity provides a different way of answering the question of ‘what works’, since it does not claim generalisability, but instead offers a path to reflective engagement with the complexities of educational processes. The idea of exemplarity highlights how educators can be invited to lend an ear to practical experience and pedagogical theorising, and through these develop their tact and reflective abilities through exemplars that display pedagogical principles. This, in turn, offers the possibility of retuning one’s practice, and in the scope of this article, retuning educational research itself.     

Provision of public educational services and access to higher education among the Negev Bedouin Arabs in Israel

This paper deals with the provision of educational services and access to higher education of the Negev Bedouin Arabs in Israel, in the context of the social change this community is undergoing. The Negev Bedouin have been transformed from semi‐nomads and agriculturists to urban town dwellers. Education in general, and higher education in particular, are crucial to their adjustment and development. As members of the Arab minority in Israel, they face a number of inequities in the provision of educational services, access to higher education and access to job opportunities. The Negev Bedouin schools face additional problems related to the lack of qualified teachers and proper facilities. These schools have the highest drop‐out rates and the poorest success rates on the matriculation exams in the country. As of the 1993‐94 academic year, there were only 135 Bedouin Arab university graduates and 163 university students. Their higher education ratio is 2 per 1000, which is far below the Israeli national average of 80 per 1000. Recommendations are offered for improving the access of Negev Bedouin Arabs to higher education and their subsequent absorption into the Israeli labour market.     

大教育观念的实质及其对教育创新的启示

大教育相对于封闭的学校教育而言。大教育观念主张超越学校教育，促进教育社会化，协调社会影响，加速社会教育化。它要求加强各级各类教育的系统性和灵活性，充分开发和利用社会教育资源，形成正规教育与非正规教育的合力。     

Exporting professional courses: cultural and educational implications

Since the introduction of the Overseas Student Program (OSP) in 1985, courses have been marketed, often quite aggressively, by Australian universities. In most cases, overseas students have responded by coming to Australia. The cultural implications of the OSP are evaluated using a hypothetical case—Hong Kong Registered Nurses undertaking a post-graduate Public Health Nursing program in a higher education institution to prepare them for work with Vietnamese people in Hong Kongs refugee camps. The evaluation is based on an application of Dunns jurisprudential metaphor and transactional model of argument to a consideration of the contextual and cultural issues which arise from an examination of the impact of the course. It was concluded that the course would not be appropriate. Moreover, arguments developed from the hypothetical case were found to be generalisable to the export of other professional courses, and the relevance of many offerings were questioned.